Foreword by Patrick Lencioni

Lencioni is one of those gurus that has sold millions of books, none about emotional intelligence (EQ). As Lencioni proclaims in the foreword, he's no EQ expert, but he sees everyday how critical a skill it is to have and he's so enthusiastic about this book because it's the first he's read that actually shows you how to increase your EQ and apply it in your life.

Chapter Summaries

The Journey

This chapter opens with a riveting story of a surfer who is attacked by a great white shark in California that is a great illustration of the power of emotion and how important it is to understand and manage our emotions. This chapter also illustrates how our brains are wired to react to events emotionally before our reason kicks in, and it lays the groundwork for the process by which the rest of the book will teach you to increase your EQ.

The Big Picture

This chapter teaches what EQ is and what it isn't. For example, a lot of people mistakenly think that EQ is a part of your personality. To the contrary EQ is separate from your personality, just as it is separate from your intellect, or IQ. It begins to build your understanding of emotions by showing what the five core emotions look like in varying degrees of intensity. Next the Bradberry and Greaves explain research studies that illustrate how important EQ is in daily living. They show how your EQ impacts things like your tolerance for change, how you manage stress, and even how much money you make.

What Emotional Intelligence Looks Like: Understanding the Four Skills

Introduces and explains Goleman's four EQ skills: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Beyond a conceptual description of the skills, detailed vignettes show examples of real people who are high or low in each of the skills.

Digging In: An Action Plan to Increase Your EQ

This chapter outlines the 6 step action plan that the reader will follow to increase their emotional intelligence levels once they have completed the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal that comes with the book.

Self-Awareness Strategies

This chapter introduces you to 15 original strategies, which were designed to help you maximize your self-awareness to create positive changes in your life. The strategies are straightforward and packed full of insights and examples that will help grow readers self-awareness.

Self-Management Strategies

This chapter presents 17 specific strategies, things that you can start doing today, that will help you manage your emotions to your benefit. Each simple strategy is targeted to an important element of the self-management skill. This carefully crafted set has been honed through many years of testing and are proven methods for increasing self-management skills.

Social-Awareness Strategies

This chapter presents 17 strategies that will help you notice and interpret cues other people send you. These cues will give you some help in putting yourself in the other person's shoes. It is critical to pick up on the right signals others are sending you, and these proven strategies will help you do just that.

Relationship Management Strategies

This chapter provides 17 strategies to help you work on that's critical to making relationships work. Relationship management skills tap into the three other EQ skills. You use your self-awareness skills to notice your feelings and judge if your needs are satisfied. You use your self-management skills to express your feelings and act accordingly to benefit the connection. Finally, you use your social awareness skills to better understand the other person's needs and feelings.

Just the Facts: A Look at The Latest Discoveries in Emotional Intelligence

This chapter describes the latest research studies on emotional intelligence including the discoveries made about the differences between the EQ levels of American and Chinese workers, generations, job-title, and men and women.

Discussion Questions

This chapter provides questions to start a meaningful dialogue and build your understanding of how the four EQ skills apply in daily living.